The Last Flight (2009 film)

Synopsis

Aviator Marie Vallières de Beaumont (Cotillard) goes on a journey to find her lover Bill Lancaster after his plane disappears in the Sahara. After her plane is forced down in the Ténéré she meets Lieutenant Antoine Chauvet (Canet) of the French Camel Corps who joins in the hunt for Lancaster. As the two endure hardships in the desert, they begin to develop feelings for each other.

Cast

Production

Karim Dridi decided to develop the film after reading French journalist Sylvain Estibal's novel Le dernier vol de Lancaster. Dridi had travelled through the Sahara and was interested in making The Last Flight because he felt the novel could be made into a film that deviated from the normal conventions of the romantic epic. After he narrated the story to Marion Cotillard, she agreed to play Marie, a character loosely based on Lancaster's real-life lover, Chubbie Miller.

The Last Flight was originally scheduled to begin shooting in Niger, but due to safety concerns it was filmed in and around the Moroccan village of Merzouga. Due to the location change, Tuareg actors had to be brought in from Mali. For his role in the film as a French lieutenant who has assimilated to Tuareg culture, Guillaume Canet learned Tamasheq, the Tuareg language.

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews. While critics praised Antoine Monod's cinematography, they criticised the story for a perceived lack of originality, comparing it to The English Patient and The Sheltering Sky.

Box office

The Last Flight opened in France in the fifth position behind Avatar, Arthur and the Invisibles, Nicolas Vanier's Loup, and Frédéric Berthe's RTT. By 27 December it had earned only $2.8 million.